The present invention relates to a novel cytokine. More specifically, the present invention relates to the cloning of a murine and a human cytokine that binds to a human CD40 having both agonist and antagonist activity in soluble and membrane-bound forms.
Cytokines that have an xe2x80x9cInterleukinxe2x80x9d designation are those protein factors that influence immune effector cells. Cytokines designated interleukin-1 through interleukin-12 have been reported and named as an interleukin. Other known cytokines include tumor necrosis factor (TNF), granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), mast cell growth factor (MGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), nerve growth factor (NGF), erythropoietin (EPO), xcex3interferon (xcex3-IFN) and others.
DNAs for two different TNF receptors (Type I and Type II) have been cloned (Smith et al., Science 248:1019, 1990; and Schall et al., Cell 61:361, 1990). Both forms of TNF receptor are related to each other and belong to a family of receptors whose members include nerve growth factor receptor (Johnson et al., Cell 47:545, 1986), B cell antigen CD40 (Stamenkovic et al., EMBO J. 8:1403, 1989), T cell antigen OX40 (Mallett et al., EMBO J. 9:1063, 1990), human Fas antigen (Itoh et al., Cell 66:233, 1991) and murine 4-1BB receptor (Kwon et al., Cell. Immunol. 121:414, 1989 [Kwon et al. I] and Kwon et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:1963, 1989 [Kwon et al. II]).
Human CD40 protein (CD40) is a peptide of 277 amino acids having a molecular weight of 30,600, and a 19 amino acid secretory signal peptide comprising predominantly hydrophobic amino acids (Stamenkovic et al.). The molecular weight (exclusive of glycosylation) of the mature human CD40 protein is 28,300. A cDNA encoding human CD40 was isolated from a cDNA library prepared from Burkitt lymphoma cell line Raji. The putative protein encoded by the CD40 cDNA contains a putative leader sequence, trans-membrane domain and a number of other features common to membrane-bound receptor proteins. CD40 has been found to be expressed on B lymphocytes, epithelial cells and some carcinoma cell lines.
A monoclonal antibody (mAb) directed against CD40 has been shown to mediate various functional effects of human B cells. These effects include: (a) homotypic adhesions (Gordon et al., J. Immunol. 140:1425, 1988 [Gordon et al. I]); (b) increased cell size (Gordon et al. I and Valle et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 19:1463, 1989); (c) proliferation of B cells activated with anti-IgM, anti-CD20 nAb, phorbol ester alone (Clark et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:4494, 1986; and Paulie et al., J. Immunol. 142:590, 1989), or phorbol ester combined with interleukin-4 (Gordon et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 17:1535, 1987 [Gordon et al. II]; and (d) production of IgE (Jabara et al., J. Exp. Med. 172:1861, 1990; Zhang et al., J. Immunol. 146:1836, 1991) and IgM (Gascan et al., J. Immunol. 147:8, 1991) from interleukin-4 (IL-4) stimulated T-depleted cultures.
One such antibody, called mAb 89 by Banchereau et al., Clin. Immunol. Spectrum 3:8, 1991 [Banchereau et al. I], was found to induce human B cell proliferation at a relatively low antibody concentration (30 ng/ml or about 10xe2x88x9210 M). Proliferation lasted two to three weeks and resulted in a ten-fold expansion of the human B cell population. Optimal stimulation of the B cells occurred when CD40 surface molecule was cross-linked by IgM. Fab fragments of another anti-CD40 mAb induced only a weak proliferative response. Further, Banchereau et al., Science 251:70, 1991 [Banchereau et al. II] reported that resting human B cells entered a state of sustained proliferation when incubated with both a murine fibroblastic Ltkxe2x88x92 cell line that was transfected with human Fc receptor and with a monoclonal antibody specific for human CD40. Banchereau et al. II found that cross-linking CD40 is necessary for clonal expansion of B cells.
CD23 is a low affinity IgE receptor that has been found to be expressed on most IgMxe2x88x92/IgDxe2x88x92 mature B cells, but not T cells. CD23 has been sequenced and its sequence was described in Kikutani et al., Cell 47:657, 1986. Soluble CD23 (sCD23) was found to induce a pyrogenic reaction in rabbits and this reaction was abrogated by administration of human IgE (Ghaderi et al., Immunology 73:510, 1991). Therefore, CD23 may be an appropriate marker for soluble CD40 or CD40-L effects.
Prior to the present invention, a ligand for CD40 was unknown. Accordingly, there is a need in the art to identify and characterize a CD40 ligand (CD40-L).
A novel cytokine, hereafter referred to as xe2x80x9cCD40-L,xe2x80x9d has been isolated and characterized. The nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of representative murine CD40-L cDNA is disclosed in SEQ ID NO:1 and FIG. 1, and the amino acid sequence is also listed in SEQ ID NO:2. The nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of representative human CD40-L cDNA is disclosed in SEQ ID NO:11 and FIG. 2, and the amino acid sequence is also listed in SEQ ID NO:12. The present invention further comprises other CD40-L polypeptides encoded by nucleotide sequences that hybridize, under moderate or severe stringency conditions, to probes defined by SEQ ID NO:11 (the coding region of human CD40-L), fragments of the sequence extending from nucleotide 46 to nucleotide 828 of SEQ ID NO:11, or to DNA or RNA sequences complementary to FIG. 2 (SEQ ID NO:11) or fragments thereof. The invention further comprises nucleic acid sequences which, due to the degeneracy of the genetic code, encode polypeptides substantially identical or substantially similar to polypeptides encoded by the nucleic acid sequences described above, and sequences complementary to them.
CD40-L is a type II membrane polypeptide having an extracellular region at its C-terminus, a transmembrane region and an intracellular region at its N-terminus. A soluble version of murine CD40-L has been found in supernatants from EL-4 cells and EL-4 cells sorted on the basis of a biotinylated CD40/Fc fusion protein described herein. Soluble CD40-L comprises an extracellular region of CD40-L or a fragment thereof. The protein sequence of murine CD40-L is described in FIG. I and SEQ ID NO:2, and human CD40-L in FIG. 2 and SEQ ID NO:12. The extracellular region of murine CD40-L extends from amino acid 47 to amino acid 260 in FIG. 1 and SEQ ID NO:2, and of human CD40-L from amino acid 47 to amino acid 261 in FIG. 2 and SEQ ID NO:12. CD40-L biological activity is mediated by binding of this cytokine with CD40 and includes B cell proliferation and induction of antibody secretion, including IgE secretion.
The present invention further provides antisense or sense oligonucleotides (deoxyribonucleotides or ribonucleotides) that correspond to a sequence of at least about 12 nucleotides selected from the nucleotide sequence of CD40-L or DNA or RNA sequences complementary to the nucleotide sequence of CD40-L as described in SEQ ID NO:1 and SEQ ID NO:11 and in FIGS. 1 and 2. Such antisense or sense oligonucleotides prevent transcription or translation of CD40-L mRNA or polypeptides.
Further still, the present invention provides CD40-L peptide fragments that correspond to a protein sequence of at least 10 amino acids selected from the amino acid sequence encoded by SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:11 that can act as immunogen to generate antibodies specific to the CD40-L immunogens. Such CD40-L immunogen fragments can serve as antigenic determinants in providing monoclonal antibodies specific for CD40-L.
The invention also provides a human CD40/Fc fusion protein and a soluble CD40 protein (sCD40) comprising the extracellular region of human CD40. Both sCD40 and CD40/Fc fusion protein can inhibit CD40-L or anti-CD40 mAb induced B cell stimulation, IL-4-induced IgE stimulation and IL-4 induced CD23 induction in B cells.